For Qualitative research you should involve focus-group discussions, depth interviews, and observations. As the context of BA exploratory, it is used extensively and frequently. BA research involves ascertaining responses that –
- Exist in the form of thoughts, feelings, experience, and attitudes
- Are present at the conscious or subconscious levels and
- Though at the conscious level, might not be forthcoming as respondents might not be willing to express.
Respondents Might or Might not Express Everything Openly – It is a common observation in day-to-day life that people/ individuals (who are the respondents in the research based on particular selection criteria) are unable to express in circumstances like –
- Giving reasons as to why they purchased a particular brand. At times, they do not know the true reasons. I have used Ariel, Tide and Surf. I have no issues with any of these, nor does my maid. I would not mind using any of these brands in the future. But still, I ask for Surf most often at the outlet spontaneously by default. I don’t spend a second thinking for the brand to buy. But why? I have no convincing answer. Many consumers have the same state of mind for certain brands, may not be Surf.
- What is good about the brand Lux? One might not have an answer. One might never have thought about it, and it is the first time that one has to, because of the question in the research.
Such responses, if they exist, do so at the subconscious level and not at the conscious level. What exists in the latter gets expressed spontaneously unless the respondent is unwilling to express it. People usually are unwilling to express certain things, which are embarrassing. At times, the research process (interview/discussion) might have gone for so long that the respondent might not express, resulting in faster end of the interaction. The researcher needs to accordingly design research and pilot it before going live.
Free Association
These include
Word association – This involves the following steps –
- Respondents are exposed to a battery of brand names.
- Respondents are then asked to express the first set of we that come to mind.
After generating the associated words, the reasons for the same are obtained. Quantitative ratings are obtained for the test brand and its competitor as to how well the words fit the brand through a scale. (Fits very well, fits quite well, fit to some extend and does not fit at all.
Sentence Completion – This involves the following steps
- Respondents are exposed to one or more incomplete sentences. (Warm up is advised,)
- They are then asked to complete the sentence.
For example, People like Hero Puch because. . .’ A friend of your brother has just bought a washing machine. He asks you what he should do to wash clothes effectively in it. You would say, “You should. . . ‘
Picture interpretation
The steps are as below
- Respondents are exposed to a picture with one or more scenes. The latter are linked up in some manner if it is more than one. Each of these has thought or speech bubbles like in comics. These bubbles are empty.
- Respondent is briefed about the scene(s).
- They are then asked to fill the empty thought or speech bubbles.
- Based on what is filled, respondents might be asked to say why the character(s) would say or think or feel the way they had stated.
This allows respondents to express how they actually feel by making use of the characters in the picture. It is believed what the characters are saying as per the respondents is what the respondent would say if he/she would be that character in real life.
Experience of Using Product
There are two ways of understanding this. One is spontaneous and the other prompted. Prompted method involves respondents describing the last time they used the product; how they used it, the place, time and occasion of use, what they did before use and after use, what went wrong and why, what went right and why, benefits derived and miscellaneous queries based on content of response given during the interview. This should be done for both the brand under study and its competitor. While researching for Tide, one can also get responses for Ariel and Surf Excel. This will help to map the differences in the use process and diagnostics. It will help identify ‘better’ factors, ‘similar’ factors, and ‘weaker’ factors for a brand and its competition. These factors also need to be prioritized among the consumers in the same research. This can help have a re look at the communication content as well as product development guidelines.
To ascertain some of these experiences, different ‘use contexts’ or ‘benefit contexts’ can be exposed to respondents through a brief story or the use of picture completion may be done.
Spontaneous process would capture small things which respondent may be unable to recall or note during use. For example, a dissatisfaction point with Rin may be that becomes soggy and soft during use and hence gets over fast. Observation (recorded on a video or without) might indicate that while Rin is being used it is left on the floor of the washing area and is continuously submerged (partly or completely) in water, or the soap case used does not have perforation/slits the base to let water run out during or after use. Benchmarking would need to be done by observing a similar process with similar factors for the competitors. This can ultimately lead to things like product development or customer education process about best practices for washing, using the particular soap or similar soaps or soaps per se.
Depending on the product category and its usage practices, the observation research would have to be planned in detail. The process cannot be similar for toilet soaps, deodorant spray and sanitary napkins. All observations cannot be –
- Made at the spot (side effects of Anacin)
- Made as the product use cannot be seen (sanitary napkins effect of Band-Aid)
- Made within a short time-span as the use process and efficacy would involve quite a long-time period (effect of Cinthol three-day test, effect of lasting deodorant effect of Rexona deodorant spray or effect of Krack cream).
Creativity, which should be practical, needs to be used based on used context and expected efficacy time period. Things like sniffing of mouth after hours for freshness due to a tooth- paste, or sniffing of armpits/used clothes at the end of the day for a deo product would be ideal to observe and note. These things do not get verbalized by respondents; so the technique has to play the role.
Decision-Making Process
At times, a detailed understanding of the process helps. One is to dissect it and for each part, understand aspects like influencer, time taken, information required, etc. For all we know the process hardly exists in a case like-’My mother always consumes Gelusil. We buy before it is almost over or is over. We do not evaluate or consult. Gelusil has to be there and it has to be bought if it is getting over.’
With the help of the consumers the process mapping should be done. This is most advised for high involvement products or close personal products. ‘Multiple-why’s’ may be used whenever appropriate.
Difference Between Brands
It is not always enough to ask, ‘What is the difference between Brand X and Brand Y?’ to understand differences that exist in the minds of the consumers. This concept of brand differences can be better understood if one can ascertain, ‘how brand users differ?’ This gets into the concept of brand personality. A range of questions can be used together to understand this. It is possible that a customer may be buying a brand because of its packaging, i.e. brand looks and might not be consciously aware of it. Hence, it might not be expressed by him/her overtly. The suggested range of questions is as below –
Questions related to personality, as
- Give respondents a pair of brands (they are aware of) and ask how they differ. Understand what makes the respondent say so.
- Give respondents three brands (they are aware of) and ask them to identify two that are similar. Then ask, why the two are similar and the third is different.
- Give brands and ask for first and second preference. Ask why the brand preferred first is so preferred. Also ask why the first is preferred more than the second?
Multiple Why’s* – This can be used to move responses from the ‘attribute level’ to the ‘benefit level’. Well, attributes lead to benefits and benefits are the means to achieve desired ends. An example follows for your better understanding –
Q – Why do you prefer Jet Airways?
A – Leg space.
Q – Why do you want leg space?
A – Physical comfort.
Q – Why do you want physical comfort?
A – Feel better about self.
